his year's Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee questions are here with the written responses I made.

Questionnairefor CityCouncilCandidates

Please explain your vision for the City of Oak Ridge for the next 5 years.

I believe the town is on an upswing industrially, commercially, and residentially. I see an upturn in all three areas. In housing, I think we are getting new housing as well as increasing the turnovers in existing homes. There is also a growing trend to renovate heritage homes. I would like to see greater cooperation with our two counties and the surrounding areas. We need to be mindful of the changes which have occurred in our demographics and look to the needs and preferences of all the current citizens.I believe it is possible to develop a more equitable and friendly relationship with the DOE and its contracting groups provided we assume the attitude of independence.

What is your plan to enhance revenues and/or control expenses to support or improve the City’s financial health?

It is my belief that every project undertaken by the city should have a plan, realistic estimates of cost/effort, and an approximation of ROI. There should also be a stated means of measuring ROI post completion.I think revenues are being increased now as new commerce opens up and new building is under way. I know of one development on the drawing board to build an entire subdivision of new houses in the cost range being sought by young professionals. I actually attribute this to the recovery from recession going on across the country with lending opening up and optimism rising.

How would you continue to strengthen the relationship between the City Council and the School Board?

If what the city manager and superintendent are telling us is happening, I would say keep doing what we're doing. We need to move in steps small enough to make sure that we are being clear in our mutual intentions. If I understand correctly, for instance, the city and schools are sharing the energy audit, a project one can get a handle on.

The community’s economic vitality is important to the Chamber. What relationship should the City Council have with the Chamber and other economic development organizations?

The city should be partners to all economic development agencies. Economic development is a vital part of the community's sustainability and prospects for thriving.

Give us your thoughts regarding the Chamber’s 3-Year Strategic Plan and 2016 Program of Work – both of which are attached. (See OakRidgeChambe.org)

The strategic plan is certainly positive and ambitious. I am especially intrigued by the "benefit-driven tiered membership" idea. I am sure that there is a lot of detail behind what is in the publication. What is presented is very generic . Were I a business considering membership I would want to see examples and perhaps a list of recent Chamber achievements.Unless there is much not in evidence, I think the Chamber has been missing an opportunity when it comes to membership, community unity, and economic growth. Big bricks and mortar stores are not the path of the future. Small specialty stores will be integrated with living spaces and entrepreneurial service and manufacturing are more likely target for growth for a town our size. Also, to raise livability for everyone, we need to include all the people who live here now, not just focus on the 25-45 year olds who work for DOE contracts.

The City and Chamber recognize the city’s current housing stock is inadequate. What steps would you take to build a stronger housing stock?

Frankly, I am not sure how much the city as a government can do beyond what it has already done. I am certainly open to ideas. It would be useful to budget for more code enforcement, especially of rental properties. Right now we have the Land Bank in operation and a hearing officer for code appeals. The MORE2 campaign is going on. Council is requesting the assistance of DOE-ORO in persuading the multiple DOE interests here to give Oak Ridge realtors access to new hires.I do think it would be good to require the development consultants to return phone calls. We have several dozen new single family homes in the offing in the requested price range and the developer is not getting phone calls returned.Let me be clear that I remain unpersuaded that our housing stock is "inadequate." Our housing is what it is and at least 90% of it is highly marketable. We have been emphasizing the houses which are distressed (and accumulating means to help or demolish them) but it is time to promote the architecturally significant and delightfully malleable historic housing we still have. 25-45 year olds who work at the "plants" are not a reasonable target for stabilizing and maximizing our occupancy.

The relationship between the City and the Department of Energy is complex and, at times, controversial. What specific ideas do you have to enhance that relationship?

I believe it starts with Council taking the lead in changing the way we regard this town. We need to start with the demographic we have, not the one we had 50 years ago. The town needs to see itself as having value and power in itself and imagine its future as if DOE might disappear. Towns which grow complacent about the longevity of their largest industry collapse if something happens to that industry. And if the industry remains vital through its own changes, the town can be prepared to be an equal partner in moving into the future. When we see ourselves as having power, we can develop a mutually beneficial and respectful relationship with the DOE missions. I am interested in hearing in what specific ways the Chamber will be working with the new ORNL Innovation Crossroads.

Thank you for coming out tonight and thank you to Mary Ann and the League for organizing this forum. Most of you know me. I am Anne Garcia Garland. I served an extended term on Council from 2009 to 2014. I have lived, worked, and played in Oak Ridge for 28 years. Some of you may have seen recent articles in the Oak Ridger in which I refer to Oak Ridge as Hometown, U.S.A. As much as anything else, that phrase represents my vision for our town. Once upon a time, this was a town with a signal mission which both defined it and separated it from the rest of the area. When that mission had been accomplished, the town was eventually liberated from its isolation and told to”go forth and manage your own affairs.” But as any of us who left home at 18 or 22 to make our way in the world can testify, if you haven't been paying all your own bills and making all your own decisions, it isn't so simple to start.So, though we have been on our own for more than half a century, we still have some aftereffects of the culture of dependence. The town was planned by the federal gov't, built by the gov't, maintained by the gov't, and run by the gov't. And the federal gov't still is the largest employer. So we still tend to think of ourselves as a gov't town.I suspect that it is not only NOT what we are any more, it may well be that it is better to Not Be. Like those young adults leaving home, we need to create an identity for ourselves that reflects who we are and who we want to become. I believe we need to pay our own bills and learn not to buy what we can't afford. I think we need to learn to save money for capital projects so we can at least make a HEFTY down payment and not have to support a large debt service. We need to imagine other ways to create better cash flow than to turn a shaming stare at DOE. We need to meet DOE as their community in the same way we would any other industry.I would urge council to require a ROI projection for large capital and operating budgets and a means of evaluating the degree to which we meet the projection when the project has been completed. I would also urge council to either direct the CVB or the city manager to create a writing campaign that rewards residents and students for getting positive stories about the city published in national markets. We need stories in print and digital media that describe many, many more of the assets and positive attributes of life in our Hometown. We need to be making ourselves known to young retirees from Pennsylvania and entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley and musicians from LA and Houston. We need educators to look to Oak Ridge to retire where it's affordable and education is valued. Some of the folks who come here to work at ORNL or Y-12 will want to live in Oak Ridge. We need to figure out how to let them know they are welcome but not pressured.And because we need to make do with our income until the rising housing market gets up to speed and more new commercial ventures open, we need to look for more ways for citizens to engage in the upkeep and operation of our town. A searchable volunteer database could help us connect what needs doing with the people who have skills to match. Remember how great a sense of neighborliness resulted from the two builds at Cedar Hill Park?The third thing on my personal platform is better accessibility to our gov't. Having been a council member who answered her calls and emails, I hear how confusing it can be to encounter city processes. Maybe we'd have volunteers from that database who could help us figure out how to create that accessibility.

Please explain your vision for the City of Oak Ridge for the next 5 years.

I believe the town is on an upswing industrially, commercially, and residentially.

I see an upturn in all three areas. In housing, I think we are getting new housing as well as increasing the turnovers in existing homes. There is also a growing trend to renovate heritage homes. I would like to see greater cooperation with our two counties and the surrounding areas. We need to be mindful of the changes which have occurred in our demographics and look to the needs and preferences of all the current citizens.

I believe it is possible to develop a more equitable and friendly relationship with the DOE and its contracting groups provided we assume the attitude of independence.

What is your plan to enhance revenues and/or control expenses to support or improve the City’s financial health?

It is my belief that every project undertaken by the city should have a plan, realistic estimates of cost/effort, and an approximation of ROI. There should also be a stated means of measuring ROI post completion.I think revenues are being increased now as new commerce opens up and new building is under way. I know of one development on the drawing board to build an entire subdivision of new houses in the cost range being sought by young professionals. I actually attribute this to the recovery from recession going on across the country with lending openning up and optimism rising.

How would you continue to strengthen the relationship between the City Council and the School Board?

If what the city manager and superintendent are telling us is happening, I would say keep doing what we're doing. We need to move in steps small enough to make sure that we are being clear in our mutual intentions. If I understand correctly, for instance, the city and schools are sharing the energy audit, a project one can get a handle on.

The community’s economic vitality is important to the Chamber. What relationship should the City Council have with the Chamber and other economic development organizations?

The city should be partners to all economic development agencies. Economic development is a vital part of the community's sustainability and prospects for thriving.

Give us your thoughts regarding the Chamber’s 3-Year Strategic Plan and 2016 Program of Work – both of which are attached.

The strategic plan is certainly positive and ambitious. I am especially intrigued by the "benefit-driven tiered membership" idea. I am sure that there is a lot of detail behind what is in the publication. What is presented is very generic . Were I a business considering membership I would want to see examples and perhaps a list of recent Chamber achievements.Unless there is much not in evidence, I think the Chamber has been missing an opportunity when it comes to membership, community unity, and economic growth. Big bricks and mortar stores are not the path of the future. Small specialty stores will be integrated with living spaces and entrepreneurial service and manufacturing are more likely target for growth for a town our size. Also, to raise livability for everyone, we need to include all the people who live here now, not just focus on the 25-45 year olds who work for DOE contracts.

The City and Chamber recognize the city’s current housing stock is inadequate. What steps would you take to build a stronger housing stock?

Frankly, I am not sure how much the city as a government can do beyond what it has already done. I am certainly open to ideas. It would be useful to budget for more code enforcement, especially of rental properties. Right now we have the Land Bank in operation and a hearing officer for code appeals. The MORE2 campaign is going on. Council is requesting the assistance of DOE-ORO in persuading the multiple DOE interests here to give Oak Ridge realtors access to new hires.I do think it would be good to require the development consultants to return phone calls. We have several dozen new single family homes in the offing in the requested price range and the developer is not getting phone calls returned.Let me be clear that I remain unpersuaded that our housing stock is "inadequate." Our housing is what it is and at least 90% of it is highly marketable. We have been emphasizing the houses which are distressed (and accumulating means to help or demolish them) but it is time to promote the architecturally significant and delightfully malleable historic housing we still have. 25-45 year olds who work at the "plants" are not a reasonable target for stabilizing and maximizing our occupancy.

The relationship between the City and the Department of Energy is complex and, at times, controversial. What specific ideas do you have to enhance that relationship?

I believe it starts with Council taking the lead in changing the way we regard this town. We need to start with the demographic we have, not the one we had 50 years ago. The town needs to see itself as having value and power in itself and imagine its future as if DOE might disappear. Towns which grow complacent about the longevity of their largest industry collapse if something happens to that industry. And if the industry remains vital through its own changes, the town can be prepared to be an equal partner in moving into the future. When we see ourselves as having power, we can develop a mutually beneficial and respectful relationship with the DOE missions. I am interested in hearing in what specific ways the Chamber will be working with the new ORNL Innovation Crossroads.